By: Cameron Tegeler and Ga’Brielle Patton

Social Changes

Music of the 20s The 1920s brought new styles of music into the mainstream of American culture. Jazz became the most popular form of music for young people and the flapper culture. Famous jazz performers and singers from the 1920s include Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Joe (King) Oliver, and Bing Crosby.

Fashion Clothing fashions changed with women's roles in society. Women went from cooking in the kitchen and being housewives, to flappers and being in the job force outside the home. Flappers were women who wore dresses that came above the knees ( which at the time was considered very risqué ), and had tassels on them that moved whenever the dress did, these women also bobbed their hair or cut it very short and wore hats to go with it. —Undergarments began to transform after World War I to conform to the ideals of a flatter chest and more boyish figure. The women's rights movement had a strong effect on women's fashions. Most importantly, the confining corset was discarded, replaced by a chemise or camisole and bloomers, later shortened to panties or knickers. During the mid-1920s, all-in-one lingerie became popular. In menswear there were two distinct periods in the 1920s. Throughout the decade, men wore short-suit jackets, the old long jackets being used merely for formal occasions. In the early 1920s, men's fashion was characterized by extremely high-waisted jackets, often worn with belts. Lapels on suit jackets were not very wide as they tended to be buttoned up high. This style of jacket seems to have been greatly influenced by the uniforms worn by the military during the First World War. Trousers were relatively narrow and straight and they were worn rather short so that a man's socks often showed. Trousers also began to be worn cuffed at the bottom at this time.